Spruce Grove fundraising hockey game honours fallen Edmonton police officers | 24CA News

The annual Battle for the Badges charity hockey sport took on further that means Wednesday evening following the homicide of two Edmonton cops.

The sport at Grant Fuhr Arena in Spruce Grove is a fundraiser for Legacy Place Society, an Alberta-based group that gives assist for first responders and army personnel looking for psychological well being assist.

The occasion noticed the Parkland Athletic Club U18AA workforce tackle a workforce made up of cops from the Parkland County RCMP and members of the Spruce Grove Fire Department (SGFD).

The sport on Thursday was additionally a chance to honour Constables Travis Jordan and Brett Ryan, who have been killed within the line of obligation final week.

The two younger officers have been responding to a home violence name on the Baywood Apartments  advanced simply off Groat Road and 114 Avenue.

The officers met the 16-year-old shooter’s mother exterior. When they went as much as the suite she lived with a 73-year-old man and their son, the teenager open fired on the officers. Neither had an opportunity to even draw their very own weapons.

“It’s been a tough week. It really shows what we actually go through behind the scenes, and that can be any one of us,” Battle for the Badges organizer Miles Valiquette mentioned.

“It can be any single first responder: it can EMT, it can be a firefighter that shows up to that door first.”

Before the sport, a tribute was held for the 2 officers.

Ryan lived in neighborhood west of Edmonton. In his spare time, the 30-year-old was a minor hockey official with the Spruce Grove Minor Hockey Association and final yr, even officiated final yr’s Battle for the Badges sport.

His spouse Ashley Ryan can also be a primary responder: a paramedic who was on shift and on the Royal Alexandra Hospital when her husband was introduced in after being shot.

Wearing an Edmonton Police Service jacket, she dropped the puck through the ceremonial faceoff.

Valiquette, an in depth pal of Ryan’s, mentioned the fallen officer and former paramedic was particular.

“He’s a community person. He was courageous. He knew what he wanted,” Valiquette mentioned.

“He was the first person to stand up for his friends and talking to all of our friends, he was the nicest person in our friend group.

“He was the person to give back to everybody.”

The deaths of the 2 males has had a profound affect on the whole policing and emergency providers neighborhood.

“It definitely hits hard when its so close to home here,” RCMP Cpl. Andrew Baron mentioned. Ryan was about to grow to be a father for the primary time — his spouse is due this summer time.

“It was somebody that had a young family and you can put yourself in their shoes.”

“A lot of our officers knew the members that were killed in Edmonton and have some close connections there, so it really does hit us all very hard,” RCMP Insp. Kevin McGillivary added.

As he copes with the tragedy, Valiquette is grateful for the chance to honour his pal.

“It sucks that it has to be this way and that Brett has to be recognized this way, but I think people are going to remember Brett for the good and see what he did do and bring to the community,” he mentioned.

A regimental funeral might be held for the 2 officers at Rogers Place on Monday, March 27. Global News will carry it reside on tv, radio and on-line.

1:51Edmontonians line streets to honour 2 fallen cops

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